CHICAGO -- Even in the midst of his own strong season left-handed starter Jon Lester is quick to stand up and cheer for fellow members of the Chicago Cubs rotation.After Kyle Hendricks tossed seven shutout innings in the Cubs 3-0 victory over the Pirates on Tuesday, Lester took to social media to praise the Cubs righty.Another gem turned in by Kyle Hendricks last night. Hoping the BBWAA (Baseball Writers Association of America) takes notice, Lester proclaimed on his Twitter feed.Hendricks (13-7, 2.09 ERA) is increasingly part of conversations for NL Cy Young Award consideration by baseball writers while reigning award winner Jake Arrieta of the Cubs (16-5, 2.84 ERA) is also having another impressive year.So why not Lester, too?The 32-year-old left-hander brings a 14-4 record and 2.70 ERA to his Friday start against the San Francisco Giants. Hell face right-hander Albert Suarez (3-2, 4.35 ERA) in a 1:20 p.m. match at Wrigley Field.Lester has a team-leading 21 quality starts in 26 appearances. He finished August with a 3-0 record and a 1.71 ERA for the month and is 3-1 with a 2.67 ERA in four career starts against San Francisco.Hes even contributed with the bat. As a pinch hitter in a July 31 walk off win over the Seattle Mariners, Lester delivered a squeeze bunt in the 12th inning that scored Javier Baez with the winning run.I was trying not to screw anything up and just get (the bunt) down and see what happened from there, Lester said.Lester, who has World Series wins with the Red Sox in 2007 and 2013, says hed rather pull for the entire staff rather than concentrate on individual accolades.I dont compete with my other pitchers, Lester said recently. I want them to do way better than me. I think the biggest thing, and the way Ive always felt, is you dont want to be kind of the loose link in the chain. You want to keep going, keep pressing along.The four-game series between the Giants and Cubs could serve as a preview to next months National League playoffs.While Chicago appears to be a virtual playoff lock, each one of the next three games in the series is critical for a Giants team that now has 11 losses in its last 17 games following Thursdays 5-4 loss to the Cubs.Its a case of us putting it all together, said Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. Theres no easy answer, but weve got to pitch well and get these bats going.The Giants, winners of World Series championships between 2010 and 2014, are just two games in back of the NL West-leading Dodgers and narrowly lead the NL wild card chase.San Francisco is scheduled to send left-hander Madison Bumgarner (13-8, 2.49 ERA) against Arrieta on Saturday. Johnny Cueto (14.5, 2.98 ERA) is scheduled for Sunday against a Cubs pitcher to be named, but could be John Lackey coming off the disabled list. Cheap Air Max China . All of the scoring came in the final 20:04. Lucic scored on a power play at 15:46 of the third period, when he tipped a shot over Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen for a 3-1 lead. Wholesale Air Max 720 Online . Calgary scored on the first shift, and Michael Cammalleri scored twice as the Flames cruised to a 5-2 win over the Washington Capitals on Saturday. http://www.clearanceairmax720.com/ .S. hockey team after paying his dues as an NHL general manager for more than three decades and giving up a lot of his free time to help USA Hockey. Wholesale Nike Shoes For Sale . PAUL, Minn. Cheap Authentic Air Max 720 . -- Hunter Smith scored the winner with just 12 seconds remaining in the third period as the Oshawa Generals edged the host Sarnia Sting 5-4 on Friday in Ontario Hockey League action. Here are my rankings for the 2016-17 college hoops season. You may be wondering whether these selections are the product of a laptop-based algorithm or simply the sum of my subjective evaluations. The answers there would be yes -- and yes.I start with how good a team was last year, and then I tally up the percentage of possession-minutes that team is bringing back from last season. Then I take a look at where the top freshmen in this years class will be playing, paying particular attention to (the ones we think will be) the best of the best.dddddddddddd Lastly, I make due allowance for coaches who have shown they can work consistent statistical wonders across multiple personnel cycles, transfers who could make a difference and any team-specific concerns regarding regression to the mean in areas like close-game clutchness/luck and 3-point defense. ' ' '